Mysteries Galore.com

Reviewed by Teri Davis

Every parent sees that their child is special, but what if your child really has an ability that is rare and possibly prized by others? Would you take your child to a specialist to verify this ability or to improve this gift? Keep those questions in mind when reading this book.

Michelle Martinez was working in her kitchen when she heard her doorbell. Since she was personally working on not being a super-woman, she asked her boyfriend to answer it. Unfortunately she did not plan to hear the sound of gun shots using a silencer. Her training and adrenaline kicked in as she immediately ran from the house and grabbed her son who was playing in the backyard. Where do you go?

Michelle called the only trustworthy person who could investigate this incident and still protect, Sean Reilly. Since it has been five years, he was surprised to receive the call and to discover that Michelle kept a secret from him. Her son is also his son. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

What will people do to be famous? ..to have their fifteen minutes of fame? You can probably guess what normal people will do, but what about those in the movie business? What lengths will these people go to get into a film, be featured on television, or just to get some form of publicity?

Everyone is shocked when watching the news on television and seeing an elderly actress talking to a newscaster while her house is burning in the background. Besides being reminded of this person’s existence, Max and Margot view this and decide to invite this actress to play a part in their next movie as the zombie grandmother. Could the fire have been a coincidence? Could this be a set up to get the actress publicity and to remind people of her existence?

Max and Margot have their own movie production company and currently are creating a new-type of zombie movie. They begin their filming in Florida with the zombies coming out of the ocean. Also coincidentally, the containers holding the actors and actresses are covering an alligator hole. This definitely makes for interesting filming. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Julie Moderson

Martini is like a fine wine. He improves with age. Every book that I have read that Martini writes becomes my favorite book, the book I tell everyone they must read.
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Reviewed by Patricia Reid

This third addition to the Emily Stone series finds Emily and Rick Lopez on the beautiful island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands. Rick has given up his position as a police officer to join Emily in her undercover operation tracking serial killers with the emphasis on child abductors. Emily was a former police officer.

Rick and Emily are able to rescue a child that was kidnapped by slave brokers. When the police arrive at the scene, the couple meets Sergeant Lani Candena of the local police department. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Cy Hilterman

Mobs have been around since time has been recorded. When Anthony Pesare sent me his book I have been engrossed by its contents, questioning why and how these organizations run by thugs, killers, persuaders, financial controllers, and much more can control so much in the world. The book is excellent and will make you also wonder about the same things that puzzled me. The author, now the Chief of Police of Middletown, Rhode Island has seen it all and I am sure lived much of it. I also wondered what connection, if any, he had in the story.

The story begins as it follows a recruit for the Rhode Island State Police force, Gino Peterson. Gino was Italian and he knew that most of all police forces were very short on Italians, partially because of the many Italians in the mob. After his graduation Gino dug in as so many opposed him as an Italian on the state police force but Gino was determined to make a difference. While in training and the early part of his work, he was transferred around to many rural areas but Gino figured it was time to try to get into the intelligence part of police work. He had a rough life as a youngster, knowing that some of the things he did were not really legal but he followed orders given to him by his family. These things taught Gino much about the mobs. Sex, drugs, beatings, shaking down merchants, and killing were routine in the mob. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Julie Moderson

This has to be the best book I have read in a long time. Miles Corwin really knows how to draw you in and spit you out and leave you begging for more. Wow! Corwin is a former LA Times reporter and really knows his stuff and I can’t wait to read more of what he writes. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Sam Millar

“You want a bullet in the head?”

Writers of fiction are always advised to make sure that the first line of their book hooks the reader into the story and hopefully keeps them there until the very end. The above first line in Jon Land’s mesmerizing new book, Betrayal, is as sharp a hook as one is likely to find in today’s modern crime stories. However, what makes the quote all the more salient is that Betrayal isn’t fiction, but the true tale of two men, Robert Fitzpatrick, one of the most celebrated FBI agents of his time, and James Joseph ‘Whitey’ Bulger, the feared head of South Boston’s Irish Winter Hill gang, of whom Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning The Departed was loosely based on.

In 1980, Fitzpatrick was assigned to Boston when his boss Roy McKinnon needed an Irishman to ‘kick ass and take names.’ The reason being that no one in the Boston Bureau seemed to be in control or have a clue when it came to taking down Bulger’s empire of criminality. At least that was Fitzpatrick’s initial belief. However, it wasn’t too long before he discovered something more sinister in the cupboards of officialdom other than writing pads and pens: skeletons, and plenty of them.

Most of the skeletons belonged to Bulger, in one way or another. So why the hell wasn’t the king of crime languishing in the local lock-up, awaiting trial, instead of sitting on his throne of ill-gotten gains? The more rocks Fitzpatrick looked under, the more startling the findings he made. Almost everyone, it seemed, was in the pockets of Bulger. Worse, they appeared to be turning blind eyes to all the alleged murders ordered or carried out by Bulger. Something would have to be done to stop him. Now, not tomorrow. But as Fitzpatrick was soon to discover, that was easier said than done… Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Julie Moderson

Collision of Lies is a very fast paced incredible novel. The book starts out with the murder of a man at sea who turns out to be an undercover officer. Then an important political man has a car wreck and dies. Is it murder or an accident on a dark lonely road?

The characters in this book are so well developed and you feel part of the team in trying to solve the crime. You try to find out what the big secret is and how they are going to stop this crime from being committed. This is a tale of murder, intrigue, and political partnerships that is amazing. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

In the year of 1385, Crispin Guest has a new assignment in Canterbury, England protecting the bones of Thomas a Beckett from being stolen and destroyed. Unfortunately, one of the first people he meets there is his old former friend, Geoffrey Chaucer. Obviously, the two forfeited their former friendship and now Crispin visibly shows animosity around Chaucer.

Almost immediately, a prioress is murdered in the exact spot where Beckett was assassinated nearly two-hundred years earlier. Added to that, Beckett’s bones are missing and another unrelated murder occurs. Were Beckett’s bones missing before Crispin came to Canterbury?

With Crispin is Jack Tucker, his young companion and apprentice, who falls in love immediately with a young nun, the one who witnessed the prioress’s murder. Meanwhile, Chaucer is imprisoned by the archbishop who plans to execute him if is Crispin does not discover the real murderer. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Patricia Reid

Where is the best place to hold a film wrap party for producer Lucas Cruz? The film is a vampire parody and party planner Presley Parker manages to wheel, deal, and line up a cemetery for the party. Not everyone would be brave enough to throw a party in a cemetery but Presley thinks it is the ideal location.

The day before the party is to take place Presley runs into a group of young people practicing the art of Parkour. Parkour includes vaulting, running, jumping and climbing around obstacles and a cemetery offers plenty of obstacles.

Presley warns the group that they are trespassing but this does not seem to bother them at all. The next morning the body of one of the participants in Parkour is found in the cemetery. This does not bode well for Presley’s party. Presley begins her own investigation and soon has plenty of suspects but before she narrows the suspects down more violence occurs. Read the rest of this entry »